Ardent American Patriot and Lover of Israel
Paul was the Last Apostle – debunking latter day rain and end time restoration teachings
Paul, the last Apostle:
Today, on some occasions, we loosely speak of people as apostles. Usually it is limited to pioneer missionaries, for example, William Carey has been called the apostle to India. The only reason this term is used is that someone was sent to pioneer a new area with the Gospel. This, of course, is never confused with the foundational apostles of the NT era. In NT times, there was also a loose and broad way to use the word apostle, in the sense of someone sent on a mission of some kind. On these occasions, the word simply means “messenger” or “delegate.” In these instances, these delegates (sent ones) are never confused with the special and restricted meaning of a foundational apostle of the church.
apostles were required to be eyewitnesses of the resurrected Jesus.
This is indicated in Acts 1:22 when Peter insisted that the replacement of Judas “must become a witness with us of His resurrection.”
Paul (1 Corinthians 9:1) defended his apostleship by saying, “Am I not an apostle? Have I not seen the Lord?” In recounting those to whom Jesus appeared, Paul says:
“After He was seen by James and then by all the apostles, then “last of all” he was seen by me also as one “born out of due time” (I Corinthians 15:8).
Paul was “untimely born” in the sense that Jesus had appeared to the other apostles before his ascension. Paul, converted by a miraculous post-ascension appearance of the resurrected Jesus, also saw the risen Lord, albeit later in time than the other apostles. The phrase “last of all seals the case that Paul was the last apostle. “Last of all” grammatically can only be an adverb describing something that is last in a series. This is even more certain when there is a group of adverbs (then…then…and last of all). In Paul’s mind he was the last of all the apostles. Surely he would be surprised to hear that he wasn’t really ‘last of all.’
apostles were the unique founders of the gospel of Jesus Christ
First there were the initial twelve with Matthias replacing Judas. Second, apparently there were a very few more who had seen Jesus and been commissioned by Him Acts 14:14 calls both Barnabus and Paul apostles. James, the brother of Jesus, is called an apostles in Galatians 1:19. Androicus and Judas were called apostles in Romans 16:7.
Note: Most commentators see them as apostles in a functional and broad meaning. I found no commentators who referred to them as foundational apostles. If, indeed they were foundational Apostles, they could have been among the 500 people who saw the risen Jesus on one occasion (I Cor. 15).
The generation that followed the last biblical apostles never ever considered the continuation of the office of apostle.
Apparently. the word of Paul, the last apostle convinced them. The so-called end time restoration of apostles has no biblical authority.
The only possible authority is “further revelation” given to the prophets of the Latter Rain and those who have taken up “further revelation: beyond the scriptures.
The choice is simple, do we believe Paul was right when he said he was the last apostle or do we believe latter day prophets who have pronounced on their own authority, a restoration of apostles at the end of the age?
For me, Paul settles the question once and for all.
Even Wayne Grudem, a self-styled promoter of prophetic utterances admits, “Since no one today can meet the qualifications of having seen the risen Jesus with his own eyes, there are no apostles today. In the place of living apostles present in the church to teach and govern it, we have instead the writings of the apostles in the books of the NT. Those NT scriptures fulfill, for the church today, the absolutely authoritative teaching and governing functions which were fulfilled by the apostles themselves during the early years of the church.” (Grudem, The Gift of Prophecy in the NT today, p. 276).
Related Source: Moriel Ministries
